Entries By george hedreen

The Four Day Climb July 26 - 29, 2022 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning.  RMI Guides Alan Davis & Dustin Wittmier led today's climbers to the crater at 14,410'.  Warm temperatures and clear skies continue, allowing great views in all directions. The team began their descent from the crater rim around 6:20 am and are making their way back to Camp Muir.  After a quick stop at Muir, the teams will continue the final 4,500' descent to Paradise and transfer to Rainier Basecamp.  The team will conclude thier program this afternoon with a celebration.

Nice climbing team!

RMI Guides Abby Westling, James Bealer, and teams stood atop Mt. Baker yesterday. After waiting out the rain all night, they departed camp in the morning and enjoyed the daylight during their ascent. The teams made it back to camp yesterday evening to enjoy dinner and some well-deserved rest. They will walk out of camp today. 

RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier & Joe Hoch led their Four Day Climb June 26 - 20 teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Dustin reported windy conditions with a lenticular cloud above them for most of the climb.  However, the cloud had dissipated as they reached the crater rim and they were enjoying the sunshine as they crossing the crater to Columbia Crest. After celebrating on the summit, they will descend to Camp Muir, repack and continue down to Paradise.  We look forward to meeting the teams at Rainier BaseCamp later today.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

Matias and the Kautz seminar team will spend their last night on the mountain tonight and plan for an early departure off the mountain followed by more training at Basecamp in Ashford.

The guide team have the following to say in reflection of the last week of training:

We have spent the past 4 days and 3 nights experiencing the mountain and the heat that accompanied it this week. Our high point may have only been 9,400’ but an abundant of learning and training was accomplished.

After a scorching first day moving across the Nisqually Glacier, we decided to move to a night schedule, only climbing when the snow hadn’t been tarnished by the blistering sun. Very Denali-esque of us. We hit on rock climbing, mixed climbing, ice climbing, crevasse rescue and many other skills. Hot weather and beating sun created unstable snow conditions and difficult trail breaking. But as one participant said, “It’s not all about the summit on trips like this”, and we feel like we were able to accomplish all our training and learning goals. The wisping clouds float below us like pillows awaiting to catch us on our decent.

RMI Kautz Team,

George, Leif, Lauren, and Matias

The June 13 - 16 Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom & James Bealer were unable to make a summit attempt due to high winds overnight as well as avalanche conditions.  The Camp Muir telemetry shows winds over 70 mph.  Around 7 am the weather had improved, the team was going to do some avalanche forecast training.  The teams have packed up and started their descent from Camp Muir.  We look forward to greeting them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

Photo: James Bealer

The Five Day Climb June 9 - 13 enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from Ingraham Flats and Camp Muir this morning.  Route conditions did not allow the teams to ascend above 11,200' yesterday or today but the team got in some good training and enjoyed two nights at Camp Muir.  The teams descended to Paradise arriving around noon today and will conclude their program at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

Photos: RMI Guide Eric Frank

Our Five Day Climb May 28 - 1 June, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today led by RMI Guides Andy Bond and Bryan Mazaika.  Andy reported a beautiful climb this morning without any winds.  The route is very direct and the teams training over the last few days set them up well for the climb.

The photo was taken by Andy on their ascent at around 13,300'.  The teams will return to Camp Muir and repack then continue their descent to Paradise.

They will conclude their program this afternoon at Rainier BaseCamp.

Congratulations to today's climbers!